This rejoinder to critiques of "Behavior Disorders: A Postmodern Perspective" stresses that postmodernism is not a rejection of empiricism or of positivism but does place theory and research in a historical context. It is a critique of the exaggerations and abuses of research and theory but not research and theory themselves. (CR)

Reviews past and present conceptualizations and summarized narrative and meta-analytic reviews of social skills training (SST) outcome studies. Overall, modest effect sizes are reported in the meta-analytic literature, suggesting that SST is a relatively weak intervention strategy. Recommendations for rebuilding SST are provided. (Author/CR)

Twenty-four studies involving functional assessment of students with emotional and behavioral disorders (E/BD) or those at risk for E/BD are reviewed in three main areas: (1) characteristics of participants; (2) types of functional assessment procedures and instruments employed; and (3) the reliability and validity of these instruments and…

Discusses the paucity of research investigating the academic instruction of students with emotional and behavioral disorders. Issues of measurements related to academic performance are reviewed, with the conclusion that the rate of academic responses provides the most desirable measure for research as well as for clinical application. (Author/CR)

An 18-year longitudinal study explored relationships between retrospective reports of exposure to interparental violence in childhood and rate of psychosocial adjustment problems in 1,265 New Zealanders. Participants who reported exposure to interparental violence had elevated rates of adjustment problems at age 18, including mental-health…

Expanding social stress, changing school demographics, and decreasing community mental health services have expanded the range of services required of the school counselor. The list of necessary mental health skills and implications for counselor education are discussed. It is recommended that "guidance" counselors redefine themselves as "school…

This article discusses how systems of care for students with emotional and behavior disorders use service coordination to create and maintain linkages among schools, families, and social service agencies. It describes how service coordination teams operate and explores the role of teachers on these teams. (Contains references.) (CR)

A study examined the long-term (3 year) treatment outcomes of all adolescents (n=2,481) who received services in Vermont's statewide systems of care. Recipients of services had substantially elevated rates of incarceration and hospitalization but maternity rates in the treatment groups were not different from other young women. (Contains…

A study examined comorbidity of the five federal definition characteristics among 1,352 students already identified as having emotional disturbance (ED). The extent of comorbidity of ED characteristics was related to the criterion for deviance and to each of the selected student variables, particularly school level and educational placement.…

This article explains skills and abilities that teachers require to effectively manage a classroom that includes students with emotional and behavior disorders and to develop a curriculum of behavior management. Discussed are techniques for preventing student misbehavior, teaching new behaviors, handling crises, and managing conflict. (DB)

This article analyzes national and state placement patterns for students with serious emotional disturbance between 1988 and 1991. Findings indicate that many states report substantial increases or decreases in percentage of children served in regular education classes, resource rooms, separate classes, or separate facilities. State demographic…

A case study of an elementary school child with emotional and behavioral problems illustrates a process of descriptive assessment, functional assessment, and assessment-based intervention. The descriptive information generated hypotheses about variables maintaining the problem behavior which were then tested in the classroom environment.…

A nonclinical sample of Australian adults (n=239) was surveyed for the incidence of traumatic childhood events, availability of emotional support, and the presence of a dissociative coping style. Findings suggested that lack of emotional support is an important mediator, but not a primary cause of the development of dissociative tendencies.…

This article discusses three major purposes of observation in functional behavioral assessment: to describe and help analyze the classroom events leading to challenging behaviors, to develop and evaluate the accuracy of hypotheses about these triggers, and to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions for challenging behavior developed from the…

This article profiles Unified Discipline, a schoolwide systemic model of discipline that incorporates factors associated with best practices in teaching behavior and improving discipline. The four components of the program are described and include unified attitudes, expectations, correction, and team roles. Implications for practice are…